Many of you have heard about buying into the stock market, where you have heard to buy when a stock is low, and sell when it is high. However, business is not always quite that simple. The reason is that economic conditions tend to create these highs and lows, and these same economic conditions also tend to provide, or remove, a stable environment in which a business can profit in a healthy manner. Imagine, if you can, a scenario in which the economy is starting to begin a descent into a recession. Many economists will tell you that we do not know we are in a recession until we have already been in it for some time since the data that is required to make that determination takes some time to accumulate.

With that being the case, do you think it may be possible for a business to offer bonds to the bond market when there is a recession around the corner? Why do businesses offer bonds instead of using retained earnings in the first place? If you are an investor who is considering using ROIC to invest in the bond, how useful would it be under these conditions?